Dismissing rumours of drying up of petrol pumps amid middle east crisis, Rajasthan Food and Civil Supplies Secretary Ambrish Kumar said that the state is comfortable with the oil stock and there is no shortage of diesel and petrol.
“On the contrary of what few media reports suggest, there is surge in the sale of petrol and diesel during this month. There is spike of 33.9% in the sale of High Speed Diesel (HSD) and 24.1% surge in Motor Spirit (MS) sold by government oil companies over last year during by this month. We have been able to handle the surge in demand,” he said.
The government oil companies like BPCL, Indian Oil and Hindustan Petroleum together sold 1,61,406 litres of MS as against 1,30,096 sold last year. Similarly, the sale of HSD was also higher this year at 3,75,760 litres as against 2,80,693 litres last year.
Why there is higher demand this year?
Ambrish Kumar explained that people purchased petrol and diesel in bigger quantities out of panic.
“Those who would refill their tanks with smaller quantities, have started demanding for full tank anticipating price hike and shortage, which is not the case. This resulted in compulsive buying triggering demand,” he said.
On other reasons over gearing up the demand, Ambrish Kumar said that bulk purchasers like fleet owners and big transporters who used to have their own petrol pumps for bulk fuelling have now started filling tanks at retail outlets putting demand pressure.
“Since price of bulk diesel is more, they have switched to retail pumps for refuelling. This resulted in surge in demand. But we are comfortably matching it with supplies,” he said.
The price hike in LPG has also resulted in increase in consumption of diesel. People who would use LPG for commercial use are now shifting to using diesel being cheaper option after the steep price hike in Commercial LPG Cylinders, which comes at Rs 3,099 for 19 litres.
“Despite such challenges, we are comfortable with supplies and there is no need to panic,” Ambrish Kumar said.
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